Montblanc seems to be taking on Rolex head-on with this piece. It has the classic day-date format with day at the top and date near the crown, and the case’s water resistance, though not at Rolex Oyster standards, is still higher than most watches, at 5 bar, corresponding to 50 metres. Above all, it has an interesting price, €2,790.
The day-date is an interesting watch format, but I find it surprising that not many brands make them (click here for an overview of day-date watches).

Montblanc’s new version of the day-date is this piece introduced in 2016, the year of the brand’s 110th anniversary, as part of the 4810 family, named after the height of Mont Blanc. The basic layout follows the Rolex day-date pattern, with day in English at 12 o’clock and date at 3 o’clock. A nice feature of the dial is the guilloché that radiates outwards from the Montblanc emblem. The design of hands and Roman numerals adds a touch of modernity to this classical piece. The gold-plated numerals are visually interesting and you don’t really notice that the odd-numbered hours just have straight hour indicators instead of the numeral. The SuperLuminova follows the same pattern, with dots applied just to the odd-numbered hours. The result is a well-balanced dial.

The case has a display caseback in scratch-resistant sapphire, and it is 40.5 mm in diameter and 10.14 mm thick. It has a 50-metre water resistance (5 bar). The watch has a black alligator strap with stainless steel folding clasp.

Calibre MB 24.18 movement

This is one of Montblanc’s entry-level watches, and so the movement, Calibre MB 24.18, is presumably made by an external supplier. It is self-winding, with a 42-hour power reserve, running at 28,800 vibrations per hour (4 Hertz). It could be something like the Sellita SW240-1, and it has been modified by Montblanc, with personalized oscillating weight and probably Montblanc’s own design of the numerals and letters of day and date. Adjustment of day and date is performed using the crown. I don’t have a photo of the caseback showing the movement: the photo below is of the Montblanc Date Automatic (sorry about all the stickers that obscure the view) but it gives an idea of what the back of this piece looks like, with the nice engraving work around the edge.

Reference and price

The Montblanc 4810 Day-Date is reference 114853, and it costs €2,790, $2,785, with alligator strap, and €2,990 with stainless steel bracelet.